Upright-piano action.



G. P. ABENDSGHEIN & A'. STAIB. UPRIGHT PIANO ACTION. APPLICATION FILED MAR.20,1913.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

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,in the county of New York; and

.tion with the parts GEORGE E. ABENDSCHEIN AND ALBERT STAIB, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

UPRI GHT-PIANQ ACTION.

i eaeae.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

application filed March 20, 1913. Serial Iva 755,761;

To all whomizi 'ma'y'concem Be it known that we, GEORGE sexism and ALBERT S'rsirs, citizens of United States, residing at New York city,

F. Annun- New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Upright-Piano Actions of which the following is a specification. y

()urinvention relates to piano actions,

particularly to certain improvements on the.

piano action illustrated in the application of George C. Snyder, filed on the 'Zlth day of January, 1911, Serial No. %,441.

, The object of the invention is to improve upon construction illustrated in the Snyder action by the provision of means whereby the hammer may be thrown outward from the strings after contact therewith and checked at different distances. In the construction illustrated in the said Snyder ap-..

plication. the hammer is caught positively upon itsrebound from the strings and is always caught and held at the same distance from the strings without regard to the amount of force or quality of the blow struck upon the keys.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the form of catcher or back checlr. illustrated in the said Snyder application may be used in connection with a jack tripped (i-regulating button.

A further object of the invention is to prevent trembling or stuttering when the key is struck a relatively hard blow.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings whereinz' Figure 1 is a side view of a piano action constructed in accordance with our invenat rest, the main rail, the tripping railand the hammer rest rail being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a like view to Fig. 1 but showing the parts as they appear after the hammer. has struck the string and rebounded after alight blow,.5nd befrom release. Fig; 3 is a like figure to Figs. 1 and .2 but showing the parts of the action after the hammer has rebounded from the Fig. i is a fragmentary side elevation of a tructed in accordance with v sl1owing- .thejack having an outwardly projecting tripping arm and piano action co my invention but.

the

State of in the ordinary manner by body force of a heavy blow.

also showing regulating rail of the ordinary type, the action rail and the regulating rail being in section.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated 'in all the views-of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring to these drawings, 2 designates the action rail of an upright piano of any desired type, 3 being the wippen attached to the action rail by means of the wippen flange 4. Extending downward from the wippen is the usual abstract 5 which connects to the key in the ordinary manner. Mounted upon the main rail 2 is a hannnerbutt 6 from which extends the shank '2' carrying the hammer 8 which is normally position edaway from the strings and rests upon the hammer'rest rail 9. T he hammer is impelled outward or away from the strings by the usual spring 10. vAll these parts except the hammer-butt may be of any ordinary or usual construction but the hammer-butt is constructed as will lie-late described to suit the new structure.

As illustrated, the outer face of the hammer-butt, that is, that part-which faces away from the strings, is formed with an outwardly and upwardly projecting extension or arm 11 which is bifurcated at its errtremity for engagement with a reduced upper end of a catcher 12. The catcher is pivoted between'the bifurcated extremity of the arm- 111 by means of the pin 13. The upper end of the catcher is notched at '14. and interposed between this notched upper end and a V-shaped pad 15 is a spring 16 which normally urges the upper end of the catcher outward. 15 is disposed at the junction of the upper face of the arm or extension 11 with the of the hammer-butt.' Just below the ears 10 which form the bifurcated portion of the extension 11 is disposed a pad 17 of felt or other suitable material. The catcher 12 below the upper end thereof is formed with aperforation through which passes a limiting screw or stop 18 which bears at its This V-shaped pad inner 'end against the pad 17. The catcher j extends downward and outward and is then curved so as to extend downward and 1nward, that is, toward the strings of the instrument, and the inside face of its lower end carries buckskin 19.

Attached to thewippen usual'fiangc 20 is the jack 21. In Figs. 1.

3 by means of the I I I 2 and 3 this jack is shown as angular in form and as having a relatively long, upwardly extending arm 22 and a relatively short arm 23 extending inward toward the action rail. As illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the jack extends outward or away from the strings at its point of pivotal attachment to the flange 20, then extends upward and then extends inward and upward and has an enlarged upper end or head 24. This head'on its inside face is formed with a projection or tooth 25, and the outer face of the head is recessed as at 26 and the inner wall of'this recess is upwardly and outwardly curved very slightly as at 27. Felt 28is disposed against this inner wall 27, this felt having an outer surface which coacts with the adjacent surface of the skin 19 and the lower wall of the recess is protected by means of a strip of felt 29.

Just above the junction of the short arm 28 of the jack with the long arm 2:2, there is disposed a regulating finger 31. This finger is pivoted at 32 and has a rounded inner extremity projecting beyond the jack and adapted to contact with a regulating rail. pivot by means of an adjusting screw 33. The regulating rail 34: is angular in cross section and is held to the main rail by screws 35 or in any other suitable manner. The outwardly extending portion of the regulating rail has a downwardly extending beveled under face 30 upon which is disposed a felt 37 with which the regulating finger 31 is adapted to contact to trip the jack in a manner which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The lower face of the hammer-butt is provided with the usual shoulder 38 which is downwardly and rearwardly inclined and is slightly curved and is protected by buckskin 39 and felt 40. Below the shoulder the hammenbutt has a fiat, downwardly exending face 4-1, and attached to the lower i ation of this face on a line about even w the pivotal axis--12 of the hammer-butt is disposed an outwardly projecting block of felt 48 of such size that the bevel faced tooth 25 may be easily shifted into the space between the block 43 and the adjacent portion of the felt 39. Disposed between the felt block 43 and the felt 39 is a felt 44 having a downwardly and'outwardly beveled face. The tooth 25 is so beveled that when at rest'as shown in Fig. 1, one face of the tooth will rest against the beveled. face of the felt 44 while the other face of the tooth will rest against the adjacent portion of the felt 39.

The hammer-butt is of course pivotally mounted as at 42 upon the usualhammer flange 45, and disposed between the under face of the short arm of the jack and the wippen is the usual jack spring 46, the Wip The finger 31 is adjusted upon its pen being attached to the action rail by means of the flange 4 of the usual character;

The parts being constructed as described, the operation is as follows. Upon a depression of the outer end of the key, the abstract and the outer end of the wippen are raised. This lifts the jack bodily and with it the hammer until the tripping finger or regulating finger 31 strikes the felt pad 2-7 of the regulating rail. This occurs just before the hammer has struck the strings. As soon as the rounded face of the finger 31 contacts with the felt 37, the jack is turned upon its pivot and the upper end of the jack is thrown outward to the position shown in Fig. 2. At the same time that the upper end of the jack is moving outward or .away from the strings, the hammer will rebo und from the strings and the inner leather face 19 of the catcher 18 will come in contact with the rounded upwardly and outwardly extending face of the felt 28 which will frictionally resist the further rearward movement of the hammer. When a relatively light blow has been struck upon the key, the hammer will rebound to the po-' sition shown in Fig. 2 and be checked by the catcher. When, however, a relatively he'avy blow is struck upon the key, the hammer will rebound farther to the position shown in Fig. 3 and it will be caught in the same manner by the catcher. It will be seen from Fig. 3 that upon this greater rebound of thc'haminer, the leather face 19 of the catcher will move farther down upon the felted face 28 of the jack and that thus provision is made for the checking of either a very light blow or a very heavy blow without any tendency to catch the hammer at one point only. whether av heavy or a light blow has been struck upon the key and thus cause trembling or stuttering.

It will also be seenfthat as the hammer moves back farther and farther before the release of the jack, there will a slight wedging action between the felts l9 23 which will check the hammer but that this can not block the action for the reason that the catcher 12 is pivoted at 13 and is yieldable against the strength of the spring 16. it is to be j'iarticularly construction, the position of the catcher 12 relative to the jack maybe adjusted by adjusting the screw 18. turning this screw inward, the lower end of the catcher will be forced outward and by turning the screw reversely, the spring will force'the lower end of the catcher inward.

It is a special feature of this invention that the catcher is capable of being rotated outward, and that when thus rotated and thehammer turned upward, it is possible to draw the jack out entirely so that a screwdriver may be readily engaged with the screw holding the hammer-butt flange 45 in noted that with this b utt and hammer without the necessity of taking the action apart. Furthermore, as

he catcher 12 is pivoted and is held in its proper position by means of the spring 16, it is obvious that it will be forced outward upon and over stroke of the key and a con sequent greater outward movement of the upper end of the jack than normally occurs. The over stroke of the key may be caused by a number of difi'erent factors, as for instance the sagging of the keyboard or the flattening down of the key felts.

It is also to be particularly noted with regard to the mechanism illustrated in Figs. 1,2 and 8 that no bridle tape is necessary, thus doing away with considerable expense and eliminating the dam er of the bridle tapes being eaten away y mice, as very commonly happens. Furthermore, space is economized in this action which is particularly important where the action is to be used for player pianos and where even a very small fraction of an inch counts. Again in this form of action the necessity of constantly adjusting the regulating but-' tons as ordinarily found in piano actions 15 avoided. This necessity is due to the warping of the ordinary regulating button rail. The regulating rail 34 in our construction being attached firmly to the action rail can not warp and hence when the action has been once adjusted it remains adjusted.

Inasmuch as when the jack descendsfthe tooth 25 engages the felt block til, it will be obvious that the hammer will be retracted positively by the fall of the jack and will not have to be drawn birdli by any bridle tape. In order to secure a quick action of the hammer, however, it is also desirable to use the usual hammer spring 10.

In Fig. 4 we show our invention as applied to an action in which an ordinary regulating rail is used. In this figure, 4C8 designates the usual action rail of an upright piano, 49 the wippen, .50 the wippen flange, 51 the abstract, 52 the hammer-butt mounted upon the hammer-butt flange 53 and 54 the hammer shank. The hammerbutt is constructed in exactly the same manner as heretofore described, and is provided with the catcher 55 which has the same shape as that heretofore described and is provided with the regulating screw 56. The upper end of the catcher is engaged 'by the spring 57 which acts to force the lower end of the catcher inward ,to a degree limited by the stop screw 56. The jack 58 is pivoted at its lower end upon the jack flange 59 and is angular in form, the short arm 60 of the jack extending outward or away from the strings of the instrument instead of inward or toward the strings of the instrument, as in the jack shown in Fig. 2. The long arm of the jack extends nearly vertically upward instead of inward and upward, as in the construction shown in fig. 2, and the upper end of the jack is enlarged to form the head 61 provided with the rearwardly and upwardly projecting tooth 62 and with the felt face 63 which is adapted to contact and have frictional engagement with the felt face 6i on the inner face of the lower 'end of the catcher. [Disposed above the short arm of the jack is a regulating rail 65 through which passes the usual regulating screw 66 carrying at its lower end a regulating button which is adapted to contact with the rounded upper edge face of the short arm, 60,01' the jack.

It is to be observed that the rear face of the jackzl as shown in Figs. 1,- 2-and 3, is formed with a shoulder 67, which shoulder is adapted to engage with the projecting flange of the regulating rail 3% incase the jack drops. The purpose of this shoulder is to prevent the jack from dropping down any farther than the shoulder will permit it when dropping upon the rail 3 main .1

function is, when the piano action is taken out of the piano, to hold the lower part of the action from falling out from the butt. T he operation of this construction is, of course, apparent to those acquainted with the art, and it will be seen that'this form of hammer, jack and catcher permits the hammer to rebound to a degree corresponding to ,the stroke, and that by raising the catcher 55 the upper end of the jack may be moved outward so as to permit the engagement of a screw-driver with the screw holding the hammer flange in place, andfurther that this construction accommodates any over stroke. I

With the action illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a very high degree of repetition may be secured without, however, any trembling or stuttering when a heavy blow is struck upon the key While the advantages incident to the construction illustrated in the aforesaid Snyder application are retained.

Vl hat we claimis: 1. An upr1ght piano action including a hammer-butt, a ack having a head, the

outer face of the head being upwardly and outwardly inclined, a bodily yieldable catcher'carri ed by the butt and extending outwardly and dowuiixardly over the head of the jack and having sliding engagement with the outer face of the jack when in check, a spring acting to urge the lower end of the catcher toward the jack, and means limiting the inward movement of thelower end of the catcher under the action of the sprin ,2. in upright piano action including a hammer butt having an upwardly andoutwardly' extended portion, a jack having an enlarged head at its upper end, said head having an upwardly and outwardly inclined outer face, on the extension of the butt and extending downward and outward over the head of the jaclnthe inner face of the lower end of said catcher coacting with the outer face of the head and slidingly engaging therewith when the hammer is in check, a spring urging the lower end of the catcher toward the jack, and an adjustable stop limiting the inward movement of the catcher under the influence of the spring and preventing the engagement of the catcher with the jack when the hammer is out of check.

3. An upright piano action including a hammer-butt having an upwardly and out wardly inclined shoulder and an upward and outward extension above the shoulder, said butt below the shoulder and spaced therefrom carrying an outwardly projecting member, its upper end upon the extension of the butt and extending downward and outward opposite to the shoulder, a spring yieldingly resisting outward movement of the lower end of. the catcher and a jack having a head at its upper end, the outer face of the head being formed to coact and having sliding engagement with the inner face of the lower end of the catcher when the hammer is in check and the inside of the head being formed with a tooth adapted to engage between the shoulder and said projecting member at the lower end of the hammerbutt.

4. In. an upright piano action,an action rail, a wippen pivotallv mounted thereon, a luznnnenbutt pivotallv mounted upon the action rail and having a shoulder and being upwardly and outwardly extended beyond said shoulder. said hammer-butt below the shoulder being formed-with an outwardly projecting member spaced from the shoulder, a catcher pivoted to the upper end of the extension of the. hammer-butt and extending downward and outward, the lower end of the catcher being formed with an up and a catcher pivotally mounted a catcher pivotally mounted at neeaeee wardly and outwardly inclined face, a

spring urging the lower end of the catcher inward, an adjustable stop for adjusting the position of the catcher, a jack pivoted to the wippen and formed at its upper end with a tooth extending beneath the shoulder on the butt, the other face of the jack being inclined upward and outward and having sliding enga ement with the inner face of upward and outward extension bifurcated at its end, a catcher. pivoted in the bifurcated end of the extension and having a notched upper end, the catcher being curved downward and outward and then inward toward the action rail, :1 spring disposed between the hammer-butt and the upper end of the catcher urging the lower end of the catcher inward, a regulating screw passing through the catcher and engaging the extremity of the extension of the hammerbutt, a wippen, the upper end of the jack being formed with a 11 ad having a tooth extending beneath the. shoulder of the hammerbutt, and an upwardly and outwardly inclined face coacting with the inner face of the lower end of the catcher and having sliding engagement therewith when the hammer is in check, said hanuner-butt being provided with a projecting felt block below the shoulder and spaced therefrom.

In testimony whereof we aihx our signatures in presence oi two witnesses.

GEORGE r. newscasts. a. 5. ALBERT sauna. a.

Witnessesa And (i'AllEISS, 31"., (i muss F BRAUN jack pivotallv mounted upon the 

